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Hundreds take advantage of Eldora's 'Ski Free' promotion

By Laura Snider Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
02/21/2011 08:18:37 AM MST

Updated:
02/21/2011 08:41:42 PM MST

Julie Picha, of Littleton, helps her son Tyler, 4, down the bunny slope at Eldora Mountain Resort on Monday. Of the skiers and boarders at Eldora on Presidents Day, 224 of them took advantage of the new "Ski Free" promotion.
(
MARTY CAIVANO
)

How it works

To get a free lift ticket from Eldora, bring your ticket or season pass from another resort to the ticket window in front of Timber Lodge. You'll need to fill out a Ski Free ticket form and show a valid ID. The offer is good Sundays through Fridays for a limited time, and an end date has not yet been announced. Eldora will keep whatever lift ticket is being exchanged for a free pass. For more information, visit eldora.com/promo.html.

Hundreds of people skied Eldora for free Monday on the first day of the resort's new promotion, which allows customers to trade in a ticket from another ski area for a free Eldora pass.

"We're trying to get people who haven't skied here in a number of years, or who have never skied here, to give us a try," said Eldora spokesman Rob Linde. "We're realizing that there are a lot of people in the Front Range that have never been up here."

Eldora's parking lot was packed for the sunny -- and breezy -- Presidents Day. And of the skiers and boarders on the slopes, 224 of them took advantage of the "Ski Free" promotion.

Paul Skinner drove up from Colorado Springs to ride his snowboard at Eldora after his wife found the free-ticket offer on the Internet on Sunday night. Skinner -- whose one other experience at Eldora included high winds and low visibility -- traded in one of his four-pack of tickets to Loveland to give the resort a second try.

"I had gotten cold feet (at Loveland)," he said. "So I thought I'd try it here, and see what their beginner terrain is like."

Eldora is counting on Skinner and others in the same boat liking it a lot, perhaps enough to buy a $99 pass that's valid for the rest of this season or a full pass for next winter.

"Once they've tried it, they'll realize it's great skiing," Linde said. "And they'll realize all those great reasons that so many of our friends in Boulder know us for."

Those include a great kids program, affordable prices and the advantage of not driving on Interstate 70, Linde said.

Some of the folks who took advantage of the new deal Monday were already aware of what skiing at Eldora is like.

Sam Hershoff -- who showed up Monday with every intention of paying full price for a lift ticket -- was surprised to find out that his Colorado Pass was good for a free ride.

"I grew up skiing at Eldora," Hershoff said. "And I used to work here."

The new promotion is good for any day except Saturdays, and the resort plans to cut it off at some point, though officials haven't said when.

"We're really just watching it play out and watching where people are coming from," Linde said. "It really is up in the air right now."

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